Vice President Biden Visits Bellevue Elementary SchoolVice President Joe Biden makes a stop at Bellevue Elementary School, where his first wife once taught, to meet with students, many of whom had written letters to the White House urging him to visit. Video by Steven J. Pallone (15:13)

Vice President Joseph Biden followed his commencement speech Sunday at Syracuse University with two emotional stops in the Syracuse neighborhood where he lived more than 40 years ago.

He took questions from more than 100 children gathered inside Bellevue Elementary School, whose pupils had written him letters, asking him to visit.

Biden's motorcade then traveled to 608 Stinard Ave., where Biden lived in the late 1960s. The vice president climbed out of the car, mingled with the crowd, and took a long look - on Mother's Day - at the duplex he called home as a newlywed.

Biden and his wife, Neilia Hunter Biden, rented an apartment there from 1966 to 1968. While Biden attended law school, Neilia would walk to her job as a middle school teacher at the nearby Bellevue Heights school. That monumental school building, now demolished, was the predecessor to the elementary school and middle school buildings on today's Bellevue campus.

Michelle Gabel/The Post-StandardVice-president Joe Biden meets with Bellevue Elementary School students Sunday in Syracuse, after delivering the Syracuse University commencement address. Biden's first wife, Neilia Hunter Biden, taught at Bellevue during Biden's days as a law student at Syracuse University. Neilia and the couple's infant daughter, Naomi, later died in a car accident in Delaware.

The couple moved to Delaware after Biden graduated. They had three children. In 1972, Neilia and their youngest daughter, Naomi, were killed just before Christmas when the family car was struck by a truck.

During both stops Sunday in the city's Strathmore neighborhood, Biden focused more on recollections and reflections than on traditional politics. At Bellevue, he answered many questions from the children about his office and his role.

He also made it clear he why decided to return.

"Now look, guys," he told the boys and girls. "My name is Joe Biden. I used to hang out at this school. You want to know why? I was in love with the most beautiful teacher you ever knew."